The purpose of this study is to preview the types of comparative study on south and north
Korean textbooks. I examined previous comparative studies on curriculum and textbooks
performed during 1980s and 1990s in Korea, and from this, I identified four types of
comparative studies on curriculum and textbooks: studies on educationally developed countries
to find out implications from the model cases; studies to find out and correct errors in foreign
country's textbooks; studies to search for the direction of curriculum and textbook integration
between south and north Korea; and theoretical studies such as sociological review of textbook
contents.
So far, studies on north Korean textbooks tend to concentrate to find out the unique features
of north Korean textbooks and their differences from the south. The future study on south and
north Korean textbooks need to include other types of comparative studies such as those I
identify above. Particularly, we need more detailed analysis on the commonality and differences
in scope of topics, sequences and levels of difficulty, grades for introducing each topic, format
of prescribing the educational contents between the south and the north. In this context, further
studies on the nature and types of comparative study on curriculum and the textbook may
throw lights for the direction of future comparative study on south and north Korean
textbooks.